Data is a valuable resource for your business. In fact, external business data about your customers, suppliers and prospects can be invaluable. It helps you to discover growth opportunities, avoid risks, and save time and costs. Yet not all companies are aware of the potential of external company data. How do you boost your business performance with this data?
Data-driven work is more than just hype. It is a formula for success that sends you around opinions, guesses, ifs and buts, so that you go straight for your business goals. Because thanks to data you can see through markets and know everything about customers, products, prospects and suppliers. Not surprisingly, data-driven companies perform much better.
Only: how do you find something useful in the flood of data today? An added complication is that you may not even know what you are looking for - because you don't realize what is out there.
Data on 300 million companies
What is in any case readily available: external company data. The Dun & Bradstreet database gives you access to company information on 300 million companies worldwide. This includes corporate structures, trade data, payment data, credit ratings, sanction lists and dozens of other types of data.
Chances are it includes data you haven't thought of yet, but which can help you reach your business goals. In our white paper "External business information: growth and savings through unknown data pearls" we explain 9 ways you can use this kind of data to boost your business. Here's a sneak peek:
Explore new markets
How many companies are there in a region or industry? What exactly do they do? And how big is their turnover? If you know the playing field you're entering, you're much more likely to score with your go-to-market strategy.
Really get to know your customers
Crown your customer as king by serving him better. You can do this by supplementing company profiles with external business information. By doing so, you perfect your service and build a more personal connection with them, leading to greater customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.
Save costs
Do you know everything about your customers, suppliers and prospects? Then you can work much more cost effectively. Internal supplier data can be enriched with activity codes, for example. Does this tell you that you have several suppliers (worldwide) for the same products or services? If so, you may be able to achieve economies of scale by purchasing more centrally. Or: you discover that you buy from several companies in one group. In that case you can sit down and negotiate a favorable framework agreement. Something completely different: real-time credit assessments of existing and new customers, which you can use to prevent having to write off your receivables due to bankruptcies.
Find out who you do business with
In the Dun & Bradstreet database, you can consult court judgments, blacklists, sanction lists, lists of politically exposed persons, negative press releases and information about ultimately interested parties, for example. Have you discovered that a person or company has been convicted or is on a particular list? Take timely action to remain compliant and avoid fines and reputational damage.
The database: a case study
5 to 10 percent business growth, the same percentage of fewer bad debts and better cooperation between sales and finance. The American branch of beauty product manufacturer L'Oréal achieved these results when it started using credit assessments and lead generation from the Dun & Bradstreet database. Managing director L'Oreal USA S/D Jon Kromenhoek tells about it: "Dun & Bradstreet provided us with the best leads we have received to date. The provided sales figures helped us to prioritize the leads and assign them to the right people. The detailed information made the sales and prospecting process much easier."
Inexhaustible source for external business data
Credit ratings, new leads, payment data, ratings, media reports: you can draw it all to your heart's content from the world's largest source of external business data:
- 30,000 sources ensure that business information on the 300 million companies in the Dun & Bradstreet database is complete at all times.
- 5 million daily updates ensure that you can get real-time current information from it.
- 2,000 automated checks plus a number of manual surveys ensure that all data has been verified.
- 1 million dollars is invested every day in maintaining the database.
Impressive numbers, aren't they? Yet they are not meant to impress you. But to guarantee you that all external business data about your business relationships is complete, accurate, current and globally consistent 24/7. And so your company discovers growth opportunities, avoids risks and saves costs.
